a grounding practice

a meditation for when you want to feel calm

Any overthinkers out there? This is the pep-talk for you. When there’s a lot going on in your mind and the world, grounding is an exercise that centers you for peace and calm.

Ever walk into a room to grab something and can’t remember what you went in for? Do you lose your keys? Shampoo your hair twice? Loop thoughts? These are signs of being ungrounded. Sometimes it’s also a response to anxiety. I gave a big talk once that meant a lot to me. I got up to the podium and totally started to panic. I couldn’t feel my legs. I felt very untethered; a big sign of being ungrounded.

Today’s pep talk is a grounding meditation to center your mind and body and root you into the present moment. This is an important part of my wellness practice and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

 

top 10 what a time podcast episodes

Most Downloaded Wellness Podcast Episodes For College Students and Post Grads

I’ve had my podcast for a year now and wanted to share my top 10 podcast episodes as an access point to what topics have been important to girls and parents. I always love when other podcasts share these lists because I’m curious to see what people found interesting. I hope you enjoy!

ep. 23 essence energy with peri zarrella 

ep. 17 all the stress 

ep. 5 women’s health with nurse practitioner julia huff 

ep. 12 on being ghosted 

ep. 19 when expectations don’t meet reality 

ep. 21 does he like me or is it quarantine 

ep 24 mentor minute with megan mcdowell 

ep. 20 corona mentorship

ep. 7 find your tribe 

ep. 14 low bar meditating 

a pep talk for when you’re being hard on yourself

Two Tips for Managing Perfectionism

So many of my students are perfectionists and I really relate to this because I’m hard on myself too. If you put a lot of pressure on yourself this is the right episode for you:  

I was at a dance class once and we did an improv warm-up. The teacher was like, “move like you’re sad, move like it’s sunny, move like it’s windy, move like you’re happy.” She had all these different prompts and then I made a joke that we should move like you’re thinking about something weird you did in 2007. Everyone laughed because everyone related to bringing up something in your mind that you’ve done wrong before and replaying it in your head.

My mentor Megan McDowell always tells me that sometimes I don’t want to accept my humanness. All that means is that I have limitations and that as a human I fall short at times. It’s not even really that you’re falling short it just is that you are human. I did an interview with Megan here that’s on feeling big feelings and if you’re perfection-y I am SURE you’re working through some big feelings: 

If you’re someone who ruminates on things you’ve did wrong or something that you feel bad about, remember shortcomings are part of being human. Your limitations make you human; not something to continue to beat yourself up about.

When I’m being hard on myself, I find it really helpful to just identify my own humanness. I name the mistake as my humanness and in recognizing it for what it is, it sort of dissipates. I don’t hold the same standards for myself that I was the moment before I pointed out my humanness.

An exercise I do when I’m getting in a perfection-y rumination spiral is I have a chat with the 80 year old version of myself so it’s Grandma Maggie in my head. I have a conversation with this older wiser version of myself that has lived more life than I’ve lived right now and I kind of see what she has to say about it.  Whether it’s through journaling or meditation. She NEVER tells me to beat myself up more. She mostly just tells me to let it go. It’s always really helpful to have this loving conversation with the older wiser version of myself. You could even see it as maybe talking to your higher-self.

If you’re someone who identifies as a perfectionist I am holding space for you and I get it! Sending everyone so much love!

 

bummed about online learning? try this

a meditation for acceptance

I received a message from a parent that had a student really bummed out about starting freshmen year of high school online and knew I wanted to help out. I’ve spent the last few months feeling like every day is groundhogs day and know my students feel this too because I hear about it in my sessions. She asked for an acceptance meditation  and overcoming difficulties we face with an online school year.

This meditation has been my saving grace throughout this unknown time. It’s less than 10 minutes to relax and process feelings so that you can move through and move on from discomfort. P.S. there was a thunderstorm during the recording, which I think adds perfect ambiance!